Methods for providing video enhanced eletronic mail return receipts

ABSTRACT

A method for providing electronic mail return receipts with video of the electronic mail recipient is disclosed. The electronic mail recipient opens an electronic mail message which initiates recording of the electronic mail recipient. The recording may be terminated when the recipient closes the electronic mail or minimizes the electronic mail message window. Recording may also end after a predetermined amount of time after the electronic mail message is opened.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] In a conventional paper mail context, return receipts providevaluable information to senders of mail. With the return receipt, thesender can verify that the intended recipient received the mail whereotherwise the sender would have to rely on, for example, contacting therecipient directly to confirm that the mail was received. Similarly, inan electronic mail context, return receipts are available to provide thesender of an electronic mail message some feedback as to the status oftheir electronic mail message. For example, the electronic mail messagereturn receipt may provide information such as if the electronic mailmessage was received, opened or deleted unread.

[0002] However, the major drawback of prior art electronic mail returnreceipts is that, while helpful, current incarnations of these returnreceipts are still very impersonal. For example, no current returnreceipt provides the ability to see the electronic mail messagerecipient's facial expression/reaction when reading the electronic mailmessage.

[0003] Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a method for improvingthe shortcomings of prior art electronic mail message return receipts.It would be further desirable to have a method for providing anelectronic mail message return receipt which provides some feedback asto the electronic mail message recipients' reaction to reading theelectronic mail message.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The present invention is an electronic mail message returnreceipt which includes video of the electronic mail message recipientreading the electronic mail message. In the present invention, a firstuser (message sender or originator) composes an electronic mail messagewhich specifies at least one electronic mail message recipient for whichan electronic mail message return receipt is required. The electronicmail message is sent to the recipient and when the electronic mailmessage is opened by the recipient, a video capture of the electronicmail message recipient is initiated, such as via a video capturingdevice at the electronic mail message recipient's end.

[0005] The video capturing device records the recipient while theelectronic mail message recipient reads the message. The video capturingdevice then stops recording when the electronic mail message recipientstops reading the message. A return receipt is then sent to the firstuser which includes the video of the electronic mail message recipientreading the electronic mail message. The first user can then watch theelectronic mail message recipient reading the message and thus can seethe recipient's reaction when reading the electronic mail message. Inone embodiment, the return receipt may be an electronic mail messageprovided to the sender with the video of the recipient attached thereto.In one embodiment, audio may also be provided along with the video.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIG. 1 shows an exemplary configuration for providing electronicmail message return receipts with video enhancement in accordance withthe teachings of the present invention.

[0007]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary method in accordance withthe teachings of the present invention.

[0008]FIG. 3 shows an exemplary screen display in accordance with theteachings of the present invention.

[0009]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of another exemplary method in accordancewith the teachings of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] The present invention is a method for providing improvedelectronic mail message receipts between two or more electronic mailmessage users. Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary configuration forimplementing the present invention is shown. In this exemplaryembodiment, an electronic mail message originator or sender employs anelectronic mail message compatible device, such as a personal computer110 having a display screen 130 to at least send an electronic mailmessage 140 to one or more designated electronic mail messagerecipients. In the present invention, electronic mail message originator100 specifies that he/she would like a electronic mail message returnreceipt associated with the receipt of electronic mail message 140 byone or more of the designated electronic mail message recipients, suchas by electronic mail message recipient 150.

[0011] Electronic mail message recipient 150 also employs an electronicmail message compatible device, such as a personal computer 160 having adisplay screen 170. Additionally, a video capturing device 180 iscoupled to the personal computer 160 in a manner as known in the art.Upon receiving electronic mail message 140, it is contemplated thatelectronic mail message recipient 150 will some time thereafter read theelectronic mail message 140. Typically, this is accomplished byelectronic mail message recipient selecting and “opening” the electronicmail message 140 from within some electronic mail message facility orsoftware. In the present invention, upon “opening” of the electronicmail message 140, the video capturing device 180 is activated to begincapturing the video of electronic mail message recipient readingelectronic mail message 140. Upon the closing, minimizing of electronicmail message 140 or at some predetermined time later, the videocapturing is terminated and a return receipt 190 having the capturedvideo of electronic mail message recipient 150 is provided back toelectronic mail message originator 100.

[0012] In the present invention, the electronic mail message users, suchas electronic mail message originator 100 and electronic mail messagerecipient 150 communicate and interact with each other over acommunications network, such as the Internet, which may be provided tothe user via a broadband network connection, Integrated Services DigitalNetwork (ISDN) line, conventional telephone line, or other similarnetwork. In the present invention, at least one of the communicatingparties, such as electronic mail message recipient 150 should have adevice capable of capturing video of the electronic mail messagerecipient 150 reading the electronic mail message. The video capturingdevice may also have the capability to capture audio of the electronicmail message recipient 150, such as via a microphone which may becoupled to the video capturing device. It is contemplated that theelectronic mail message originator also have such a video capturingdevice.

[0013] Software is typically provided on computers 220 and 230 whichinteracts with the video display screens 240 and 250 and the videocameras 260 and 270 during a video call/conference to render and provideimages of the call/conference participants to one another during thecall/conference. Typically the images of the call/conferenceparticipants are provided via video display windows 280 and 290 whichcan be seen via video display screens 240 and 250. In the presentinvention, the video display windows 280 and 290 are movable so thatcall/conference participants 200 and 202 can move their respective videodisplay windows 280 and 290 to fixed predetermined areas within theirrespective video display screens 240 and 250. Preferably, the fixedpredetermined areas or bound.

[0014] Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention is shown. Once the electronic mail message recipient as shownand described earlier herein has received the electronic mail messagefrom electronic mail message sender, it is determined if the electronicmail message has been opened by electronic mail message recipient, step210. If the electronic mail message has not been opened, no action istaken. If the electronic mail message has been opened, video of theelectronic mail message recipient is captured, step 220. It is thendetermined if the electronic mail message is no longer being read byelectronic mail message recipient, step 230. For purposes of the presentinvention, the term “no longer being read” may have a number ofmeanings. For example, in one embodiment, “no longer being read” may bewhen the electronic mail message recipient closes the window whichcontains the electronic mail message which the electronic mail messagerecipient was reading. In another embodiment, “no longer being read” maymean when the window which contains the electronic mail message whichthe electronic mail message recipient was reading is minimized oroverlaid by another window. In yet another embodiment, a predeterminedtime limit may be set to decide when the electronic mail message is “nolonger being read”. For example, a time limit of two minutes may be setsuch that if none of the aforementioned activities, such as the closingor minimizing of the electronic mail message window occur before twominutes, the electronic mail message will qualify as “no longer beingread.”

[0015] Once it is determined that the electronic mail message is nolonger being read, the video capture of the electronic mail message isended or terminated, step 240. An electronic mail message return receiptcontaining the video of the electronic mail message recipient isprovided to the electronic mail message sender or originator, step 250.In one embodiment of the present invention, the return receipt is anelectronic mail message sent back to the electronic mail message senderor originator which contains the video of the electronic mail messagerecipient as a file attachment. The video captured may be stored in anynumber of formats such as AVI, MPG, QUICKTIME, REAL VIDEO and othersimilar formats. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention,the video of the electronic mail message recipient may be provided alongwith the electronic mail message return receipt in the form of a link toa video file which may be stored remotely, such as on a network server.

[0016] In the present invention, software which implements the methodsdisclosed herein may be provided as add-ins to the user's existinge-mail programs or such code to, for example, detect the opening andclosing of an electronic mail message and activate the video capturingdevice may be transported along with the electronic mail message eachtime. For example, executable code may be provided along with theelectronic mail message which is activated upon the opening of anelectronic mail message.

[0017] It is contemplated that the present invention may be freely usedamong friends and associates but a security mechanism may be built toprohibit unauthorized or unwanted recording of electronic mail messagerecipients. A prompt may be provided either before or after recordingwhich informs the recipient that they have been recorded and whetherthey wish for the video to be sent back to the sender of the e-mail. Forexample, referring to FIG. 3, a screen may be provided after a video istaken of the electronic mail message recipient to have the recipient,for example, be able to review the video, cancel the video and/or redothe video.

[0018] Referring to FIG. 4, another embodiment of the present inventionis shown. In this embodiment, access of an electronic mail message by anelectronic mail message receiver is detected, step 400. Access can bedetected in a number of fashions, such as determining when theelectronic mail message receiver selects a designated electronic mailmessage which has a return receipts condition attached to it. Upondetection of access, a signal to initiate video capture of electronicmail message receiver is provided, for example, to a video capturingsoftware facility which is in communication with a video camera, step410. The end of access of the electronic mail message by the electronicmail message receiver is then detected, step 420. End of access may bedetected in a number of fashions, such as determining when theelectronic mail message receiver minimizes or closes the designatedelectronic mail message. Upon detecting of the end of access, anelectronic mail message return receipt is provided to the electronicmail message sender, step 430.

[0019] One exemplary application for the present invention would be forelectronic greeting cards sent via electronic mail. For example, forbirthday greetings, the sender of the electronic mail birthday greetingwould get a video of the birthday recipient reading their birthday card.Other type of special occasion greetings send via electronic mail wouldbe ideal candidates for the video enhanced electronic mail messagereturn receipt.

[0020] While the invention has been described in conjunction withspecific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives,modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in theart. Accordingly, preferred embodiments of the invention as set forthherein are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changesmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

I claim:
 1. A method for providing electronic mail message returnreceipts between at least one electronic mail message originator and atleast one electronic mail message recipient, the method comprising:receiving an electronic mail message which requires a video enhancedelectronic mail message return receipt when received by the at least oneelectronic mail message recipient; providing the electronic mail messageto the at least one electronic mail message recipient; and returning thevideo enhanced electronic mail message recipient to the electronic mailmessage originator, wherein the electronic mail message originator willbe able to view the electronic mail message recipient reading theelectronic mail message.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:capturing the at least one electronic mail message recipient on videowhich comprises providing a signal to a video capturing device to beginrecording the electronic mail message recipient.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the video is saved in at least one format selected from thegroup of AVI, QUICKTIME, MPEG and REALVIDEO formats.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein returning the video enhanced electronic mail messagerecipient to the electronic mail message originator comprises: attachinga video file to the electronic mail message return receipt.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the video enhanced electronic mail messagereturn receipt is an electronic mail message provided back to electronicmail message originator.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining when the at least one electronic mail message recipientstarts reading the electronic mail message; and determining when the atleast one electronic mail message recipient stops reading the electronicmail message.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: ending thevideo capture when the at least one electronic mail message recipientstops reading the electronic mail message.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the selected electronic mail message is tagged as requiring anelectronic mail message return receipt by the electronic mail messageoriginator.
 9. A method for providing electronic mail message returnreceipts, the method comprising: determining when an electronic mailmessage recipient has started reading an electronic mail message whichrequires an electronic mail message return receipt; taking video of theelectronic mail message recipient when the electronic mail messagerecipient has opened the electronic mail message; determining when theelectronic mail message recipient has stopped reading the electronicmail message; and providing the video of the electronic mail messagerecipient back to the electronic mail message's originator who specifiedthe electronic mail message return receipt requirement.
 10. The methodof claim 9, wherein determining when an electronic mail messagerecipient has started reading a certain electronic mail message whichrequires an electronic mail message return receipt comprises: detectingwhen the electronic mail message is opened.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein determining when the electronic mail message recipient hasstopped reading the electronic mail message comprises: detecting whenthe electronic mail message is closed.
 12. The method of claim 9,wherein determining when the electronic mail message recipient hasstopped reading the electronic mail message comprises: detecting whenthe electronic mail message is minimized.
 13. The method of claim 9,further comprising: halting the video taking after a predetermined timelimit.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein taking video of the electronicmail message recipient when the electronic mail message recipient hasopened the electronic mail message comprises: providing a signal to avideo camera to begin taking video.
 15. A method for providingelectronic mail message return receipts between electronic mailcorrespondents, the method comprising: receiving an electronic mailmessage having return receipt specified for the electronic mail messageby a sender of electronic mail message; providing the electronic mailmessage to at least one designated electronic mail message receiver;determining when the at least one electronic mail message receiver opensthe electronic mail message; capturing the at least one electronic mailmessage receiver on video upon opening of the electronic mail message bythe electronic mail message receiver; and providing an electronic mailmessage return receipt to the sender of the electronic mail message,wherein the electronic mail message includes the video of the at leastone electronic mail message receiver reading the electronic mailmessage.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein a signal is provided to avideo camera upon opening of the electronic mail message by theelectronic mail message receiver.
 17. The method of claim 15, whereinthe video is attached as a file to the electronic mail message returnreceipt.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the video includes audio ofthe electronic mail message receiver.
 19. The method of claim 15,further comprising: providing the electronic mail message receiver theopportunity to review and cancel the video if desired by the electronicmail message receiver.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein the video isprovided as a link to the video file.